This invention refers to a slicing machine for fruit, especially olives, its aim obviously being to cut the latter in slices.
Within the field of table olives, i.e., olives intended for direct consumption, there is a considerable sector of the market which calls for olives cut in the form of slices.
The machine which the invention proposes is equipped to receive table olives, once pitted, and to cut them in slices at a very considerable operative rate, as this machine is capable of cutting over 120 fruit per second.
(In the field of this invention, there is some lack of uniformity in terminology, with the term "pitted" sometimes being used to refer to fruit which has pits, and other times being used to refer to fruit from which pits have been removed. In the present text, the term "pitted" is used to refer to fruit from which pits have been removed, and the term "unpitted" is used to refer to fruit from which pits have not been removed. Pits are sometimes referred to herein as "stones".)
Due to the fact that the olives must previously be processed in a pitter, and that this type of machine usually has frequent failures, i.e. that in the final product supplied by them there is a certain percentage of unpitted fruit, which varies according to the type of machine, in the one which the invention proposes, a special structure has been designed through which the fruit with stones which reach the cutting area is separated from the pitted and cut fruit, without damaging the elements of the cutting system in the slightest.
Another feature of the invention is centered on the fact that the machine is designed, also through the suitable devices, to slice all the pitted stones completely which reach the cutting system, irrespective of their different sizes; specifically, it is equipped to cut small olives entirely which, due to their reduced diameter, are trapped between the conveyor rollers and consequently are further from the cutting knives, thus ensuring that cutting is complete, even in these cases.